before anyone could say anything, and sure enough, he was soaking wet all over again by the time he reached the motor home. He went straight to the tiny bathroom, hung his dripping clothing on the hook on the back of the door, and took a quick hot shower. When he got out, he dressed in sweat bottoms and a shirt and crawled in between the sheets on the bed. It took a few minutes to warm up a spot, but once he did, he fell right to sleep. He dreamed about Diana for the second night in a row. This time they were both older and sitting on a porch swing watching a couple of little children play in the yard. He knew they were Rebecca’s kids, but they were calling him Grandpa.
He awoke, shivering in total darkness. Rain was still coming down like it meant business, but the electricity was out. Using a flashlight, he located the closet and was packing a bag again when he found an old yellow slicker hanging at the very back. He put it on, picked up the bag he’d packed, and ran from the motor home to the house. He built up a blaze in the fireplace, and using the quilt from the back of the sofa like a sleeping bag, he stretched out on the floor. He was warm and dry, and the fire threw off enough light to keep it from being so damned dark. Hopefully by daylight the power would be back on, but if it wasn’t, they could survive. He shut his eyes, and hoping that he’d pick right up on the dream he’d left behind, he went to sleep.
Chapter Ten
Diana awoke from a nightmare, her whole body clammy and her hands shaking. She sat up in bed and opened her eyes, but there were no shadows, nothing but total darkness. She held up her hand and brought it close to her face but couldn’t see it until her eyes readjusted to what little light there was.
“No electricity,” she muttered. She threw the covers back and crawled out of bed and was amazed that the bedroom was still reasonably warm. She remembered seeing the breaker box in the utility room off the kitchen, so she headed that way. “Hopefully it’s just a matter of throwing a switch.”
In the complete darkness, she hit her knee on the nightstand, bent to rub it, and smacked her forehead on the old iron bedstead. She seemed to be the only one awake, and the house would cool down rapidly if the switch that had flipped controlled the heating unit.
It was no different from when she was at home in Sugar Run. She’d make her way to the back bedroom closet where the breaker box was located and take care of things. But at home she knew her way around her bedroom in the dark; here, not so much. Holding her hands out in front of her, she found the chest of drawers. The chair where she always dropped her purse was just to the left of that. She felt her way carefully but still bumped her shin on the chair before her fingers located it.
“If this is what it’s like to be blind, I never want to lose my eyesight,” she muttered as she searched her purse by feel for the flashlight. She found it and pushed the bottom, and nothing happened.
“Dammit!” she swore under her breath. “The battery is dead.” Then she realized that what she was holding didn’t have a key chain on the end.
“Lipstick,” she giggled as she fumbled around again, finally bringing up the flashlight. She held her breath as she pushed the button and bit back a shout when a small ray of light appeared.
The tiny thing was to help you find a keyhole, so it didn’t offer a lot. She focused it on the floor and took one step at a time. She’d made it halfway down the stairs when something hit her on the cheek. She’d forgotten about the chain that turned on the light at the top of the stairs. It wasn’t all that big, but the crystal ball at the end hit her square in the eye.
“Ouch!” she groaned. She threw the tiny ray of light upward and sat down on a step until the ball stopped swinging. Then she got up and made her way to the bottom. Once there, she held up the flashlight so that she wouldn’t stumble over an